Robert Wyatt

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Robert Wyatt (born Robert Wyatt-Ellidge, 28 January 1945) is an English singer.

He was a founding member of the influential Canterbury scene bands Soft Machine and Matching Mole before becoming paraplegic after an accidental loss of a window in 1973, which led him to abandon band work, investigate other instruments, and begin a forty-year solo career.

Wyatt's own writing, which was a central figure in the formative years of British jazz fusion, psychedelia, and progressive rock, began to become more interpretive, collaborative, and politiciized from the mid 1970s to today.

His solo career has spanned a wide variety of musical genres, from pop singles to a morphing, amorphous song collection based on elements of jazz, folk, and nursery rhyme. Wyatt resigned from his music career in 2014, saying, "there is a pride in (stopping), but I don't want (the music) to go off." Alfreda Benge, an English painter and songwriter, is married to him.

Early life

Wyatt was born in Bristol. Honor Wyatt's mother, Grace Wyatt, worked with the BBC, and George Ellidge, his father, was a factory psychologist. Honor Wyatt, a cousin of Woodrow Wyatt, whose political position influenced Robert in joining the Communist Party of Great Britain. Wyatt's two half-brothers from his parents' previous marriages, Honor Wyatt's son, actor Julian Glover, and George Ellidge's son, press photographer Mark Ellidge were among his sons. His parents' lives were "quite bohemian," and his upbringing was "unconventional." "It seemed perfectly normal to me," Wyatt said. My dad didn't join us until I was six years old, and he died ten years later, having suffered with multiple sclerosis early in life, so I was brought up a lot by women." Wyatt attended the Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys, Canterbury, and as a child, he and his parents lived in Lydden, where he was taught drums by visiting American jazz drummer George Neidorf. Wyatt met and became friends with expatriate Australian musician Daevid Allen, who rented a room in Wyatt's family's house, during this time.

Wyatt and Neidorf moved to Majorca in 1962, living near the poet Robert Graves. Wyatt returned to England in 2009 and joined Allen and Hugh Hopper in the Daevid Allen Trio. Allen left for France and Wyatt and Hopper formed the Wilde Flowers with Kevin Ayers, Richard Sinclair, and Brian Hopper. Wyatt was originally the drummer in the Wilde Flowers, but following Ayers' departure, he became the lead singer.

Personal life

Alfreda Benge, an English painter and songwriter, is married to Wyatt.

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Solo career

Wyatt's ankle injury caused him to abandon the Matching Mole and his rock drumming (although he'll continue to play drums and percussion in a more "jazz" way, without the use of his feet). He embarked on a solo career straight away, and his bandmates (including Mike Oldfield, Ivor Cutler, and Henry Cow guitarist Fred Frith) launched his solo album Rock Bottom on July 26, 1974. The album had been largely composed prior to Wyatt's death, but during Wyatt's convalescence, he rethought the plans to adapt to his new circumstances, and several of the songs were written during this period. The album received mainly critical feedback.

"I'm a Believer" by Wyatt, which attained number 29 in the UK chart, two months later. Both were made by Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason. Wyatt's performance of "I'm a Believer" was criticized by many, who argued that his use of a wheelchair "was not appropriate for family viewing," according to the producer, who wanted Wyatt to appear in a normal chair. Wyatt won the day and "lost his rag but not the wheelchair." The band (a stand-in for Mason) appeared on its cover in a new issue of New Musical Express, with all in wheelchairs. Wyatt appeared on Mason's first solo album Fictitious Sports (1981), a collection of songs arranged by American jazz musician Carla Bley.

"The boss at Virgin said the single was 'lugubrious,'" despite the delay and lack of promotion denting Wyatt's hopes of a follow-up hit."

Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard (1975), Wyatt's next solo album aside from one track made by Mason, was more jazz-led with free jazz influences. Brian Eno on guitar, synthesizer, and "direct inject anti-jazz ray weapon" were among the guest artists. Wyatt performed two Cage songs on the fifth edition of Eno's Obscure Records label, Jan Steele/John Cage: Voices and Instruments (1976).

Wyatt appeared on various television shows throughout the 1970s, including Henry Cow (documented on their Concerts album), Hatfield and the North, Carla Bley, Michael Mantler, and Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera, who performed lead vocals on Manzanera's 1975 solo debut Diamond Head. Carla Bley (piano, clavinet, synthesizer), Steve Swallow (drums), and Jack DeJohnette (drums) appeared on Mantler's settings of Edward Gobert's poems in 1976 (drums).

Wyatt's solo work in the early 1980s was increasingly politicized, and he became a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain. Elvis Costello and Clive Langer's original version of "Shipbuilding," which followed a sequence of political cover-ups (collected as "Understand Us"), debuted in 1983, peaking at number 35 in John Peel's Festive Fifty for 1982-released tracks. Wyatt performed on "Venceremos (We Will Win), a song expressing political sympathy with Chilean people living under Pinochet's military dictatorship, released by the UK soul-jazz dance band Working Week in 1984 as a single on their debut album, which was also included on their debut album in the following year.

Old Rottenhat, Wyatt's first album of original songs since Rock Bottom, was released in 1985. The album featured largely political songs with relatively sparse arrangements largely performed by Wyatt alone.

In the late 1980s, after collaborations with other bands including News from Babel, Scritti Politti, and Japanese recording artist Ryuichi Sakamoto, he and his wife Alfreda Benge spent a sabbatical in Spain before returning in 1991 with a Comeback album Dondestan. His 1997 album Shleep was also praised.

On her second album Nido, he collaborated with Italian singer Cristina Donà in 1999. In the summer of 2000, Goccia's first EP Goccia was released, and Wyatt appeared in the title track's video.

Wyatt performed "Masters of the Field," "The Highest Gander," "La Forêt Rouge," and "Hors Champ" on the soundtrack to the 2001 film Winged Migration. He can be seen in the DVD's Special Features section, and is lauded by film's director Bruno Coulais for his youthful fame.

Wyatt, a 1996 singer, performed "Comfortably Numb" with David Gilmour at the Meltdown festival. It was shot on Gilmour's DVD David Gilmour in Concert.

Free Will and Testament, a BBC Four show featuring live performances of Wyatt, Ian Maidman, Liam Genockey, Annie Whitehead, and Janette Mason, as well as interviews with John Peel, Brian Eno, Alfie and Wyatt himself, was broadcast on January 4, 2003. The Mercury Music Prize nominated album Cuckooland was released later this year.

Wyatt appeared on Björk's song "Submarine," which was released on her fifth album Medlla in 2004. On Gilmour's album On an Island, he performed cornet and percussion with David Gilmour, and read excerpts from Haruki Murakami's book Songs from Before. Wyatt performed and played pocket trumpet in 2006 on the opera Welcome to the Voice, interpreting the role 'the Friend' by Steve Nieve and Muriel Teodori.

Wyatt released Comic Opera on Domino Records in October 2007; later on, they re-release Drury Lane, Rock Bottom, Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard, Nothing Can Stop Us, Old Rottenhat, Dondestan, Shleep, EPs, and Cuckooland. Around Robert Wyatt by the French Orchestre National de Jazz appeared on the album In 2009, he appeared on the French Orchestre National de Jazz's Around Robert Wyatt.

Wyatt was one of BBC Radio 4's Today programme's guest editors, and he appeared on the 1st of January 2010. Among other things, he argued for increased recognition for amateur choirs and confessed to a preference for them over professional choirs "because there is a greater sense of commitment and meaning in their singing."

Different Every Time: Marcus O'Dair's Authorized Biography of Robert Wyatt was published in October 2014. Wyatt appeared at the "Off the Page" festival in Bristol on September 26th and later in the Queen Elizabeth Hall on November 23. Different Every Time – Ex Machina / Benign Dictatorships, a companion compilation album, was released on October 18, 2014.

Common is a compilation by Wyatt of Jimmy McGovern's 2014 BBC film Common.

Wyatt admitted that he had "stopped" making music in a December 2014 interview with Uncut magazine. For his reasons, he cited age and a greater interest in politics.

As BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week abridged by Katrin Williams and read by Julian Rhind-Tutt, Wyatt's biography Different Every Time was published in January 2015.

Wyatt appeared at the Brighton Dome on December 16, 2016, with Paul Weller and Danny Thompson in support of Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn as the opening instalment of "People Powered: Concerts for Corbyn." It was Wyatt's first public appearance.

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